Aliyah Aftermath
by Nightstalcer
Summary: "Better try to find Dinozzo and David rather than having chit-chat. Damn, Abby should've implanted the tracker in his skin all these years ago." It seems Tony and Ziva are once more missing in action. What happened to them while being in Israel? Takes place in Saeson 6, episode 25 Aliyah.
1. Chapter 1

_Hey there, I'm with a new well not entirely new story. I got the idea to this back in 2015 but it wasn't really working out then. So I had it left on my computer and two days ago I stumbled upon it once again and the flow returned and I finished this in two days. So it's not proofread and sometimes my german way of saying things in English comes through but oh well just live with that._

 _This story takes place in Season 6 episode 25th Aliyah when Tony and Ziva had their talk and she took him down on the ground. From there this story differs greatly from canon, but I will try to explain how this happens. This is no character bashing but Ziva is not particuarly nice in this story._

 _All the character are not belonging to me, you know the drill, let's get on with the story. This is already complete and I will publish the chapter soon after another. Thanks for reading._

He was coughing up sand after being pressed down onto the dusty soil by his - now former - partner Ziva David. She was angry with him. That he could understand since he basically killed her boyfriend trying to protect her from him and his games but she was never a person that was thankful for such interference.

She held the weapon in his face, hands shaking with emotion. Not the cold blooded killer she wanted to be, claimed to have been all these years but rather a very hurt woman grieving for her loved one and not seeing anything else.

Yes, she was hurting and he could get it, he really did. That's why he'd asked her if she wanted to take a swing at him. Which she did just not with her fist or as a slap but with a loaded weapon, first his knee then his chest. He would never say that he was unprepared for death, his job was too dangerous for it to never happen but in this moment, he hadn't counted on dying and he was afraid. Afraid that she would pull the trigger, taking his life while thinking the worst of him.

He swallowed. She hadn't shot him yet and he didn't want to change that either. So he was silent, instead of giving her a piece of his mind and reaming her a new one for behaving this way. Oh well, the latter Gibbs would do once he would find them on the ground, struggling with each other.

After an eternity, at least it felt like it, Ziva finally took her weapon down. She didn't allow him to get up but that was fine with him. His arm hurt a lot after the assault and the broken bones wouldn't like to be used to get up himself. He felt his confidence returning.

¨Well Zeevah...¨ he started but couldn't finish his sentence as she slapped him across the face with her pistol. It hurt. A lot.

¨Ouch, nice one David¨ he answered while throwing her a dirty look. He would never tell her how much her actions hurt him not just physically. She just smirked.

"I thought that would get you to shut up. Remember I told Gibbs that he shouldn't worry about you as only two people in this country have the allowance to execute you?¨ He nodded, his cheek burned from the metal hitting it harshly before.

¨Well, one of these people is me. GET HIM!¨ The last words were said in Hebrew but you didn't have to be a genius to figure it out. She finally stood up and freed Tony's body from hers but before he could even try to get up on his own, four men came towards him.

A well placed kick in his rib-cage left him without any air to defend himself. He struggled but they restrained him fast and efficient. He was lifted from the ground, hands were cuffed behind his back, a cloth was quickly placed in his mouth to gag him. He tried to do anything against them but they were too many and he was injured. He stood no chance and they shoved a thick woolen bag over his head, so his senses were deprived of any sensation. Except the pain, that one he could still feel and the rough handling of him when they finally loaded him into a car and he landed on his arm was just that, painful.

His only thought was that Gibbs would realize that he was missing soon and hopefully come and rescue him. This time he didn't see any chance for himself to save the day, more precisely save him and get out of this situation alone.

############################################################

Gibbs and Vance were leaving the headquarters of Mossad in a somber mood. Eli David was still not very amused being played by Anthony Dinozzo and his friend Leon for seeing it through. But his hands were bound too and he didn't want to cause an international incident just over this. Michael had been a good operative but there were others that could take his place and he did kill an agent when it was unnecessary to do so. So he would let Dinozzo walk away this time but he promised Leon that this man should never try to step onto Israeli soil again or he would be facing consequences. Vance had promised that it would not happen and they parted on good terms. Gibbs was fuming the whole time but for the sake of peace between both countries he didn't voice his exact opinion on where to stick this kind of order.

¨Where the hell's Dinozzo?¨ he growled after leaving the building. His agent wouldn't go sight-seeing in this kind of situation now would he?

Vance who was still remembering Dinozzos awesome interrogation while being interrogated himself, didn't choose to comment it.

¨Maybe he went to talk with Miss David again?¨ the director surmised. He had seen the venomous looks that the Israeli had thrown towards her partner the whole flight and he knew that Tony would mostly try to right the wrong again.

Gibbs sighed. ¨Shouldn't do that. Still too fresh for her, she won't listen anyway...¨ He wouldn't either but he would've probably killed Dinozzo had he killed off his wife. Yes any of his wives, even Diane.

Vance sat down on a nearby bench and looked towards the sun.

¨I guess we have to wait for them then? David isn't here either.¨

Gibbs sat down next to him.

¨Don't know if she should come back yet. Might need a little time for herself. To sort things out... They can't work together like this.¨

¨So you plan to leave her here? You do know that Eli will immediately use her for some mission of his, one of no return?¨ Vance couldn't believe it.  
Gibbs cringed when following this line of thought.

"I know that Leon. But still, can't have her working back in DC like this. You know how I was then and Mike was reluctant with me at first. Said the grieve is killing me inside out. Turned out he was right."

Now it was Vance's turn to cringe. He knew what Gibbs meant and he'd rather not talk about it. It could cost his directorship in the least not to mention entirely possible legal repercussions.

"Yeah well, since we are already not-talking about this, do you think we have to worry that Officer David could try to harm Agent Dinozzo?"

Now that was even more a train of thought that Gibbs didn't want to follow further.

"She better not." he growled. As much as he got her position there was a line that you didn't cross and he knew she did it before but now she was part of his team and his team followed his rules. Didn't matter that he hadn't in the past either.

He got up from the bench they had seated themselves upon and looked around for signs of his agents.

"Either way, we should look for them, the flight is scheduled this afternoon." Vance tried for diplomacy. As the director of NCIS he had to look out for all his agents even if he didn't like them personally. He had spoken with Tom Morrow before as he was the director at the time Dinozzo got hired and the man only had good things to say about his "asset" as he called him.

"He keeps Jethro in line while still doing an amazing job at investigating the MCRT cases." he had said. "Haven't found a lot of people who can do that while being lower in rank than Jethro. And he isn't a marine either."

Both of them knew that marines were people that easily got respect from one Leroy Jethro Gibbs while most others didn't despite their professional position.

Vance sighed. He began to look deeper than the surface of the MCRTs reports after that conversation. It took place right after he reluctantly agreed to get Dinozzo back on Gibbs team after his stint as Agent Afloat. Which was a position he did well, Vance had to admit even though the agent didn't like the isolation at sea.

He solved a few crimes on board too and was very efficient to stop drug smuggling and some light contraband issues which were quite common among the marines.

Well, he had found a lot of incidents regarding Agent Dinozzo where he got the most promising lead for a case out of nowhere it seemed and other occasions where he taunted a suspect into admitting everything without any lawyer getting them out of it.

Also the good old footwork was mostly done by him and Gibbs together which got results too. Still, technologically bases searches through databases like McGee performed almost daily were a bit more efficient but you still had to see the pattern in this jungle of information. Otherwise it was just useless data. Vance knew that himself. He relied on internet-searches and databases but to make sense of this, you needed analysts and as it seemed also out of the box thinkers like Dinozzo.

So he realized that Dinozzo was a valuable agent and this situation with Rivkin and Ziva was a directors nightmare. He had to play it light with Mossad in favor of inter-agency-cooperation and the politics this incident could cause but in his heart he couldn't really fault Dinozzo for it all. He visited a coworker for whatever reasons after hours and was surprised with the presence of a wanted assassin that was part of Mossad. They couldn't have prosecuted Rivkin if he had managed to kill Agent Dinozzo that evening and possibly he would've been called back to Israel without any consequences based on diplomatic immunity. He nearly spat on the floor as he entertained this possibility. Gibbs would have been furious and Dinozzos family too.

##########################################################

While they were walking Vance decided now was a good as times as any to satisfy his curiosity.

"Speaking of which, my assistant wanted to inform Agent Dinozzos family about the flight to Israel in terms of a formal hearing for shooting an agent from another country. She couldn't find any contact information though."

Gibbs grunted, he knew Vance for fishing for information with this line of questioning. Still, if he knew then he might think a bit higher of Tony.

"She doesn't find it cause there aren't any. His next of kin is me. His father didn't visit him when he got the plague and there has been no contact since I knew him. Better stays that way too."

Gibbs was blunt with his words, as always.

"Not exactly father of the year I assume?" Vance pried further but Gibbs only glared at him to leave it alone.

"Better try to find Dinozzo and David rather than having chit-chat. Damn, Abby should've implanted the tracker in his skin all these years ago." As Vance's eyes rose questioningly Gibbs smirked.

"When he had an undercover stint on the Jeffrey White case all these years ago Abby suggested implanting a tracker in his arm so that it wouldn't be found. Well the one in his shoes was destroyed only hours into the mission but considering Whites behavior it's possible Dinozzo would've lost his arm then."

Another chapter of Tony Dinozzo that Gibbs skirted around in his thoughts. He was supposed to only be an agent, a subordinate to him but he was so much more. As were Ziva and Abby and McGee. Even Ducky. One crazy-family would be what Tony would say about them. He cared about them and now his team was in shambles and he didn't know if they could survive this rift between Tony and Ziva.

"Where the hell are they?" he growled, letting his frustration and worry out the only way he knew how.

Vance took out his phone and called his contacts. In clipped sentences he gave the order to look out for Agent Dinozzo and Officer David and to escort them back here wherever they were.

 _That's it for now please tell me what you're thinking. Greetings, Night_


	2. Chapter 2

_You guys are amazing, thanks a lot for all of your reviews. I got one in Portuguese which I roughly translated that the reviewer seemed it was a good story, so just thank you for reading it.  
The other guest that just thought it was crappy writing... oh well, I'm no native so you have to live with it, so do I.  
All the others of you - on with the story. _

_It gets more intense in this one. Have fun and enjoy reading._

This order didn't help Tony much as he was still bound, cuffed and gagged in the inside of a truck, probably military issued, and waiting for whatever the hell Ziva has planned for him.

He knew she wasn't bluffing, she was one of the persons who could order his death and there was little to no doubt that she would.

It hurt beside his arm which burnt a lot worse than after his altercation with Rivkin or even the "meeting" with Eli David.

"You've done it Tony. One more person you hold dear hates your guts now. Too bad she isn't a drunk coward like your father so you don't have time for any regrets. Well, my old man would say I deserve that."

Being killed by a crazy woman that was in love with a loose cannon that stupidly killed another law enforcement officer. Being killed by a partner, a partner he once thought he could trust, that didn't just see the superficial cover he wore on his best days.

Well he was wrong, apparently.

Enough with the pity party, he decided. If he wanted to see the light of day one more time he had to act fast to get out of here.

He sat up which proved a little difficult since he had no hands to support him but he hadn't had his P.E. degree just for the ladies, he knew how to handle himself enough to manage sitting up only with his legs to hold him.

He quickly decided that with his hands behind his back, the chances of escaping were slim to none so he bit down hard so he wouldn't cry out and wrangled his arms in front of him. The pressure on his broken bones were excruciating but he couldn't scream out loud.

"Argh..." was all that escaped from his mouth when he had his hands still cuffed together successfully in front of his stomach.

Since nobody bothered to hinder him so far he concluded he must be alone in the truck.

He tugged at the woolen bag and it came off easily. The gag followed soon after.

"There, there... now we're talking" he thought to himself and looked around. His arm hurt like hell from the pressure before but he tried to ignore it as best as he could.

The truck was pretty empty save for himself and a few woolen blankets. They were probably used to cover him up as he was transported towards the truck. They were in Tel Aviv for god's sake, it's not like there were all alone.

Of course there was no handle on the inside of the truck so he had to discard the notion of just walking out of this mobile prison.

Checking his pockets if there was anything useful in there he remembered another incident where he was inside a truck and tried to capture the attention of Gibbs. The money was pretty handy for that task. Unfortunately he was in there with Ziva at that time and that creeped him out now in retrospect. She'd shot him back then. Maybe that should've been more than enough of a clue.

Anyway, this musing wasn't getting him anywhere. He turned around and investigated the side towards the drivers cabin. There was a small handle for an even smaller door where the driver could hand stuff into the back of the truck where he now stood. Mostly weapons and ammunition. No way he could fit through that but he could look where he was and if there was a driver there, maybe overpower him if he had the element of surprise on his hands.

Thankfully, the cabin was empty but unfortunately there were no tools to help him get out of the container.

He sighed and getting desperate, he searched for a trap door on the bottom of the truck and the roof too. He quickly found his exit over his own head and this time he could easily fit through.

He raised the door up and proceeded to lift himself through but then stared into a barrel of a gun.

Oh shit.

##############################################################################################################

The kick came out of nowhere but it knocked him flat on his ass.

"Oh my Tony, you really thought you could escape? Don't be stupid. You're way too dumb to get out on your own. Be decent and wait for Gibbs like the good little kitty you are." Ziva sneered from above and Tony blinked away the stars he saw as a result of her heavy boot connecting with his skull.

"It's puppy Zee-vah.", he answered while grinning up at her. Not that he felt anywhere near grinning and his teeth were probably bloody from the impact before. But while it was dangerous to agonize her even further when she was already on the warpath, he had to count on his ability to annoy everybody so that they didn't think straight. Which gave him an opportunity to escape.

If she wanted him to be that low cockroach she portrayed him as, he could be that way. He was always underestimated and it was high time he put that to use.

She seethed at his attempt to still correct her language like this was just a giant joke in the office. It seemed he didn't grasp that in a few hours he would be dead.

"It seems I have to teach you some manners, Tony. I don't give a fuck what kind of animal you are in this stupid language, as it doesn't matter anyway. You just had to stick your nose where it didn't belong and curiosity killed the cat, doesn't it?" While she was talking she was climbing down the hatch he had opened earlier.

Tony moved, preparing himself to take her down given the first opportunity he got.

He had been stripped of his weapons, even the secret knife in his belt buckle before, but he could hold himself in a close combat situation and he was stubborn enough to ignore a shot to his extremities.

She looked at him and laughed.

"So this is how you want to play this? Wait for an opening and then strike? Pretty sly for a jock." she taunted but Tony just smiled.

"Learned from the best, Officer David." he spoke formally but she realized that he used her title to separate her from the rest of the team and he hit a nerve with that.

She lunged herself at him and punched him in the face. He blocked her hand though. Then she swept put his legs under him by kicking him in the knee that was damaged all those years ago.

"Shouldn't have trusted me with that kind of weakness." she laughed at his painful expression.

"So that's all I was to you? A mark?" he pried, while giving her a hurt look. Screw that bitch, he thought, if I am going down, then so are you.

He could imagine her going up to Gibbs, all teary eyed that somebody had killed him for revenge on Rivkin and she couldn't help him in time... Well, her acting skills were certainly up to par to pull that off. Gibbs loved Ziva like a lost daughter and there was no way he would not believe her. So he had to do his best to survive long enough to show Gibbs what Ziva really was. A ruthless assassin with a bad taste in lovers.

She took one step towards him which pretty much closed the whole distance between them in the confined truck container.

"You a mark? Don't be ridiculous. You're just a mosquito on my windshield, unimportant. Gibbs is a mark that's worthy of my attention. And it was so easy to play him, just save his ass from Ari and he eats out of your hand... on the other hand, what did you do for him all these years? You are just baggage, I have no idea why Gibbs keeps you around. But oh well, that will change now as you won't be returning to your precious team, at least not outside a body bag." she chuckled.

"Oh the irony, as my brother infiltrated your stupid agency posing as a corpse. And then you will be returning there after killing a Mossad agent the same way."

Tony blinked, he didn't show any of the hurt and doubt she managed to seed within him. His determination to survive and stop her rose.

"You don't think there will be questions regarding this? You think you can just come back and resume your life? There will be an investigation from IA towards your role in the Rivkin-debacle. At the very least, your job is gone. If you kill me now, they will find out and then Gibbs will make your life miserable."

At least he hoped that that was the case. Gibbs wasn't always the nicest of guys and he had been pretty strict with him the whole time since he was nearly killed by Rivkin.

Ziva wasn't impressed with his description of the possible outcome.

"Don't worry Tony. I'm sure Gibbs will be thrilled to help me with these accusations from the IA. After all he gets when somebody kills your loved ones and knows the need for revenge is important to remain sane."

Yeah, like hell you did, he thought but she still managed to get under his skin. Would Gibbs really overlook her murdering him just because he screwed up confronting Rivkin? He couldn't believe it but then he knew that Gibbs had killed before and not in self defense but in cold blood murder. It had kept him up lots of nights as this was so very against everything he learned and held dear but he also concealed the faults of his father and that man didn't even love him. Did Gibbs love him? Dammit, he didn't have time for this emotional crap.

"I would worry more about the bullet he will put through you when he finds out what you're pulling here." he countered but this was the one moment Ziva had needed.

Before he could defend himself, his world went blurry and then black. Ziva smiled devilishly and pulled the small needle out of his neck.

"Be quiet. Your execution must be prepared. This is a great day for Israel as you are the first terrorist we managed to catch that will be publicly executed." she shouted as Tony drifted of to sleep.

#############################################################################################

A few hours went by and Gibbs and Vance had no idea where their two agents were. Vance called the airport again to reschedule their flight back home. For the third time.

"Dammit Gibbs where are they? If they looked themselves up in a hotel room then I will have both their asses." Vance was frustrated and also worried.

Gibbs tried the best he could, having informed McGee and Abby about the disappearance act their colleagues had pulled. They both tried to track them down using their cell phone signals an such but no luck that far.

He had organized Vance and himself a car and they drove aimlessly around Tel Aviv. Finally, they got a call from on of Mossads agents that Ziva had been seen in their headquarters.

"I hope she has a good explanation for all this." To make their situation worse, the streets had filled tremendously and there was some ruckus going on.

Gibbs looked towards his boss.

"Do you know what this is all about? Lots of police there." he pointed towards a small crowd who were agitated and police officers tried their best to calm them down.

As they had no other option they drove back towards Mossad headquarters and finally found Ziva. She seemed busy giving some orders but then she smiled as she saw Gibbs and Vance.

"Gibbs, director Vance." she greeted them, but both men were not happy with her.

"Officer David. We tried to contact you for hours! Where the hell were you? Our flight has been rescheduled three times already."

Ziva looked down, smiling sheepishly.

"Yes well, I am not coming with you today."

"What?" now Gibbs was genuinely surprised. "Why not?"

"As you well know I cannot lock Agent Dinozzo in the eyes right now. It's hard to work with someone that killed your boyfriend. I am sure you understand that, Gibbs." she said, still avoiding their gazes and appearing to be still hurt but also very sad.

"Speaking of which, have you seen Agent Dinozzo?" Vance inquired. Now Ziva looked confused.

"No I have not seen him. He came to me after talking to my father but I told him I couldn't talk to him right now. He wanted to apologize, even broke your rule Gibbs." She smiled slightly but then sighed.

"As I know that his place on the team is very important to him I thought it was best if I was staying here for a while to clear my head. Maybe then I can work with him again." She gauged if Gibbs would feel sorry for her with this answer.

Gibbs only glared at her that she would just decide this for herself and not even ask him.

"You're right though..." he said. "Wouldn't want me to choose between you and Dinozzo."

Now Ziva was annoyed. She had indicated that she could understand such reasoning right before but in reality she wanted Gibbs to clearly side with her. Did she not follow through enough with the lost-daughter act, she wondered.

"Anyway, I have not seen him. And you have to excuse me now because we are having an execution this afternoon." with that she wanted to saunter away but Vance stopped her.

"What? Are you serious? An Execution? On what grounds?" he couldn't believe this.

Israel never used the death penalty before except that one guy from the Nazi period for his horrendous crimes against the jews. His execution was back in the sixties.

Ziva closed her eyes and blinked. This was getting tiresome.

"The military still has the right to proceed with execution if it is deemed necessary. Also, there is the law on terrorist acts that certifies this. As a matter of fact, Mossad caught a terrorist two weeks ago and that person will now be punished for her sinns. I cannot tell you anymore as it is need to know but you are welcome to watch as it will be a public demonstration."

Hastily she made her retreat as to avoid having to answer more questions.

It didn't matter that the parliament would never condone this, Mossad belonged to the military, at least loosely and if the people got the explanation of a terrorist that was caught after he committed horrible acts against the Israeli it would be okay. People died all the time.

 _That's it for now... any thought on this? It's a bit longer than the first one, but there was no good way to cut it.  
See ya soon_

 _Night_


	3. Chapter 3

_I'm really sorry about the long wait, considering this story is already written and done for quite some time. Was done before publishing the first chapter actually. But I was kinda sick the last days so I had no nerve to edit it and upload.  
So here it is, the final chapter of this adventure. I hope you like it and thank you for your reviews and alerts, it was very motivating for me. _

Gibbs and Vance were left speechless. After a while they composed themselves and Vance began to dial a number on his phone. Gibbs could only assume that the director wanted to confirm that this wasn't a sick joke.

"At least it explains the ruckus on the streets." Gibbs murmured. Still, where was Dinozzo? He was beginning to get worried and with executions happening again in Israel and public ones too, he really wanted to leave this place on earth. Pretty much a hypocrit as Virginia where he was home was on of the states in the us where the death penalty was still regularly used and whose government was still against prohibiting it.

"I cannot believe they are doing this." Vance exclaimed. While he knew that the united states weren't the big almighty brother that took watch all over the world as their government wanted it to be, he was still shocked that their ally would just orchestrate an execution without informing the NATO or UN.

"It's mossad, they can do anything they want... like killing other LEOs in America." Gibbs said appearing nonchalantly but he was fuming on the inside too. And his gut was acting up, something about the disappearance of Dinozzo was not right (well he basically vanished in a foreign country, what could be right about this?) but he couldn't place a finger on it what it was. And Ziva was also acting weird. Which he could chalk up to her still grieving her boyfriend.

"Dinozzo, where the hell are you?" he asked himself once more.

#########################################################################################

Somehow Vance and Gibbs ended up on a big market place where lots of people had gathered. Some of them had banners and were clearly against the use of the death penalty. Others were on the opposite side of the political spectrum and lots of police officers were handling the crowds.

"It looks like we are about to witness this..." he broke off, even Vance couldn't find a decent way to name this thing.

"It seems they didn't even trial the men. If it is a men." They had no way of knowing the identity of the so-called terrorist. Gibbs shuddered, his gut was flaring up and he nearly felt the need to vomit into the next trash can.

He had killed a lot of people on the job, but mostly in self-defense or when another life was on the line. To protect. To secure the safety of civilians and also for the greater good in case of his marine days. In a war you didn't question the logic of killing a single person from the other side. It was all about minimizing the numbers of the opponent. People, soldiers became targets and targets you shot. Afterwards, when it was over and you got home, you could break down and question yourself and your superiors.

It took a while but then there were some military men who escorted someone that was clearly a prisoner. It had to be the terrorist that was going to be executed today.

There wasn't a gallow to be seen so the agents guessed it would just be a public announcement and then afterwards the execution would take place somewhere else shielded from public eyes. They weren't in the medieval ages anymore.

Gibbs took another look at the prisoner. Clearly a man, clothed with a woolen cloak that hid most of his body except his hands, which were bound together behind his back. Over his head they was a woolen bag, mostly so that nobody had to look at a wanted criminal. Still the procedure was just weird but then, Israel had not a lot of experience with this sort of thing.

Then he saw that the prisoner was gesturing wildly with his hands. Gibbs narrowed his eyes to concentrate. There was a pattern, he would repeat the same motions over and over.

"Dino..." Gibbs mumbled which got Vance to look at him questioningly.

"What did you say?" he wanted in inquire, but Gibbs held a hand up to shush him. Vance huffed, he knew that Gibbs didn't respect him a lot but he still was his director, dammit.

"Dino... Nose... If that man would be using sign language, that's what he would be saying..."

Did it mean something or was this man just gesturing randomly and he wanted to read something in it?

"If he would use this as means of communication, why not spell out SOS or help? Should be easier. Besides, you assume he spells in English..." but he stopped as he saw Gibbs face harden.

"Gibbs?"

"It can't be..." his eyes widened with shock.

Then a guard of the prisoner saw what he was doing with his hands and quickly hid them behind the cloak.

Gibbs cursed loudly.

"Dinosy... how could I be so stupid?" He shouted and than ran.

Vance tried to stop him, to explain.

"Gibbs, what the fuck are you doing?" he took after him.

His agent took out his service weapon and ran towards the procession. The military realized that a foreign man was running towards them with a weapon in hand and tried to stop him by drawing their own.

"Stop. Federal agent!" Gibbs cried out. He sprinted towards them and was greeted by several barrels facing him.

"nsgjlfbl%%%6$" they shouted towards him but he didn't even bother to try to understand them. Vance finally closed the gap between them and held up his hands to placate them.

"Gentlemen, I have to excuse me for my agent." he began but Gibbs just cut him off.

"Fuck that Leon, and help me get to him." he pointed towards the prisoner who seemed to have lost his posture from before. As if he lost all hope. Why did he even have some to begin with?

"Gibbs, you are causing an international incident, back off." Now Vance was angry but Gibbs didn't stop. The guards were still reluctant to shoot him.

"Don't you get it? Dinosy... that's what McGee calls him to get back at him for his pranks. That is no prisoner over there, that's Dinozzo."

Vance still had no idea what Gibbs was babbling about but only the slightest possibility of this being their missing agent was enough for him to act upon.

He stood up protectively and addressed the guard closest to him.

"We are federal agents and we have the suspicion that this wanted terrorist is not who he seems. Please notify Eli David of this." They nodded, apparently understanding enough English.

"I'm here Dinozzo, everything's alright." Gibbs said stepping towards the prisoner but the guards blocked him before reaching him. The prisoner didn't look his way, showed no reaction to his presence and voice at all. Was he wrong after all? That couldn't be. That would be a giant coincidence and he didn't believe in coincidences.

"Gibbs, step away. They will let us look at him in a closed off room not far from here." Vance tried to comfort Gibbs but he knew it was useless. Gibbs was on a warpath here and he would not wait for the damned politicians to decide this.

"Oh I know what kind of room that will be." he growled. They would be going where the execution was taking place. If this was Dinozzo, he couldn't do that to him. However he had ended up this way he would try to protect him now. An inkling of his mind told him it had to do with Ziva. She knew of the execution, did she plan this all out?

But then Gibbs thoughts were disrupted as Eli David appeared.

"Now, now, what is with this, Gentlemen? Agent Gibbs, Leon, I thought you had left us this morning?" He was all business.

"We had to reschedule our flight as our Agent Dinozzo has gone missing after your conversation with him."

Eli tried to look friendly but he was still very annoyed with this agent from NCIS so he didn't quite manage to pull it off that we was genuinely concerned.

"Ah while that is unfortunate why do you disrupt this procession of a prisoner?" he demanded to know still in the same friendly voice.

"That is no prisoner!" Gibbs shouted. "That is our agent." Now Eli was clearly surprised.

"Why would you think that? This is a terrorist that was caught two weeks ago by mossad after he bombed two hospitals on our soil."

While both Gibbs and Vance had heard about this incident in the news back then Gibbs was still positive that he was right.

"I don't deny you caught that bastard, but this is not that man. This is my agent and I want him freed right now."

Eli just shook his head.

"I cannot just let him loose right here. I will let you look at him in a more private setting..." but Gibbs cut him off.

"Yeah, the execution room. I will not let you take my agent there!" it tool all of his willpower to not take a swing at the mossad director.

"Agent Gibbs, let's all be reasonable. I will give you the benefit of the doubt because I'm positive that this is the wanted terrorist Yisim Hadad but if you can give me any indication that this might be your man I will take him to another room to let you look for yourselves."

he replied, positive that the Americans couldn't provide any evidence.

"He signed." Gibbs said.

"He what?" Eli questioned.

"He used sign language. Signed his name. Well at least something very close to his name. Your officers realized he was doing this and hid his hands from view."

Eli thought about this. It couldn't be but he had an inkling that an experienced agent such as Gibbs would not cause such riot without being sure. And Vance was backing him up.

"You do know what it means if you are faulty on your assumption Leon?" Eli threatened him.

"I have known agent Gibbs for a long time and if he has a hunch then I will investigate it."

Eli sighed. Either way this was going crazy. If this was their terrorist then he made a fool out of mossad for this incident with the Americans. If not this was an entirely different fiasco. Having a foreign agent falsely imprisoned was one thing but to try to execute him as the first executing for half a century was devastating. He would have to conduct his own investigation if this was the case which he didn't believe yet.

"Very well, if you would like to follow me Gentlemen." Eli whispered something to one of the prisoners guards and mentioned for the others to come with him. The guard remained behind and explained to the crowd that they will check one last time if everything is correct.

Gibbs desperately wanted to rip off the bag from the prisoners head but he knew he had to wait. It worried him to no end that if this was Dinozzo he hadn't made one effort of communicating with him after he had rescued him from his immediate death. Was it the shock?

The procession went away from the crowd and also away from the designed execution room. Instead, they entered a nearby warehouse which wasn't one on the inside.

"One of our secret operation bases. Well not so secret anymore I'm afraid." Eli said.

There were some separate rooms and also some equipment to treat wounded agents quickly without them going to the hospital.

"I thought if this is really an error then there should be medical help available."

Gibbs had to admit that the director of Mossad had gone great lengths for their request. Which also meant that he wasn't that sure anymore that they weren't on the right track.

"gnsvndfkn%%%6$" Eli ordered on of his men to get close to the prisoner and the other two drew their weapon on him. Gibbs and Vance stood there, waiting.

They removed the bag from the head of the prisoner.

"My God!" Vance exclaimed while Gibbs crossed the few spaces between them.

Anthony Dinozzo looked towards him, his eyes watering treacherously. He was gagged with a cloth and then duct taped. He had no way to get any sound out. Also there were plugs in his ears so that he didn't hear anything. It was very cruel to deprive him of all senses and still Tony must've known what was up because he was trembling now and the tears were falling.

After a swift removal of the tape and the cloth he tried to speak.

"B-Boss." It was more of a whisper but a nurse came and gave him some water inside a bottle with a straw. He greedily sucked on it.

"I cannot believe this" Eli exclaimed, having lost all composure.

"Uncuff him immediately and bring him something decent to wear." he forgot to switch back to hebrew but his men got the gist and left to fetch some clothes and shoes as prisoners didn't get such luxury.

Gibbs went towards him and softly hugged Tony. Normally he wasn't one for cuddling but this was an extreme situation and he was so glad that Tony was back with him.

"I got you Dinozzo. I got you." The younger man just leaned against him, all energy being drained from him. Gibbs steered him towards some cot and together they sat.

#######################################################################################

After a while Tony seemed to recover and sat straight once more. Gibbs realized the shift in position and searched for any clues. He knew now was the time for talking.

However, Vance beat him to it.

"Agent Dinozzo, would you mind to explain to us how you wound up captive as an international wanted terrorist?" He just had to know if this goofball managed to screw everything up.

Tony looked up to Vance. What should he say? Would the director even believe him? It had been hours after his conversation with Ziva and after not only being sedated by her but also stripped, chained and then deprived of all sensations and knowingly going to his death. He didn't know if she was audacious enough to talk to Gibbs after she captured him.

"Where's Ziva?" he asked instead.

"Ziva? She said she hadn't seen you and then went to..." Gibbs told him and then broke off. She wanted to help prepare the execution, she had explained to them. Could it be that she knew that Tony...

"You meant to say she wanted to oversee that her plan was working on how to kill me?" Tony said in a mocking voice but then he had to cough loudly and inhaled deeply.

"Easy Tony." Gibbs tried to comfort him but the man shrank away from his touch.

"Don't!" he nearly shouted.

He held his hands up and realized that he was still cuffed.

Elis men took a while to get back to them it seemed. Gibbs wanted to get angry again but he was already furious so that he couldn't find it in him to rip these guys a new one over being too slow.

Once more Vance intervened.

"You mean that not only she knew about you being the prisoner but was actively working forward to it?" he could not believe this. When had the world turned upside down all of the sudden?

"That's one way to put it." Another cough interrupted his speech.

"She..." What Tony wanted to say further died on his lips as he saw the one person he never wanted to see again in his life.

Elis men arrived finally.

"Director David, we bought your daughter back with us, as she is..." they also couldn't finish their sentences as Ziva breezed in like a tornado on the warpath. She didn't even try to conceal her true intentions as she stormed in with determination.

Before anybody could stop her she had reached Tony and outmaneuvered Gibbs. Perhaps it was the shock of it all that left Gibbs that vulnerable but he caught himself one second later and trained his gun on her.

"Ack." was all Tony could say as Ziva quickly yanked at his cuffs to manipulate his position to her liking.

He was scared but he didn't want to give up. He kicked out at her and managed to break free from her hold.

Any second now she would shoot him but he was sure that Gibbs would reciprocate and at least he would be avenged if all things went south. With being cuffed and very dehydrated and on top of that a broken arm and too many bruises to count he didn't stand a good chance against her.

But she didn't shoot. Instead she whipped out some cloth and used it as a lasso which got caught around his neck.

Breathe Anthony... he tried to tell himself but the fear was nearly suffocating him. Of course, that could also be the lack of air he got.

"Dammit Ziva, stop this nonsense!" Vance screamed and also drew his gun. Eli David and his men just stood there dumbfounded.

Gibbs' finger twitched.

"Give me one reason to not shoot you right now." he told her, his fury evident on his face. Ziva just smiled and yanked even more on the cloth which caused Tony to gag. She positioned her former partner in front of her body.

"She is using him as a body shield." Gibbs mind told him. As if he didn't know the obvious. He didn't like to but he had to talk her down. He couldn't let anything happening to Dinozzo... No Tony right now. He had suffered enough at the hand of his teammate and this was entirely his fault as a so called leader of this team.

The death of Rivkin clearly had sent Ziva over the edge and with this stupid farce of a political solution they gave her the perfect opportunity to exert that revenge.

"You won't shoot me Gibbs." she sneered, all image of the long lost daughter gone.

"For some dumb reason you want this... imbecile" with this she spat into Tonys face, "more on your team than me. So I have no reason to spare him."

Meanwhile Tony was turning slightly blue in his face. The rest of his skin was ashen and his eyes were full of terror. Vance looked towards Eli. They had to do something.

"Ziva Dear, calm down, we can talk about everything." Eli tried to intervene. Not that he cared about an American agent that much, especially not this one, but the fallout from this was far too great to even consider siding with his daughter. Besides, she was clearly nuts.

Ziva spun around to face her father and laughed.

"Too late to recognize me for how great I am, Abba." she replied.

"I have nothing to lose here. Michael is already dead and it's only fair if Dinozzo joins him."

Gibbs hand shook with rage. Now she wanted to make this about him, like it was his fault for not choosing her over Tony. Like hell he would.

He stood straighter and faced her directly.

"You want to know why I want Dinozzo more on my team than you? I can tell ya. Because he is the best agent I ever worked with. He can solve a lot of cases fully on his own, has done so in the past with me as a two man team. He is versatile enough with computers to search databases and such for clues and trace money transfers. He excels at any undercover work, had he not managed to fool us all for half a year. His shot is better than most other agents but what's most important is that he is loyal, brave and always a great agent that upholds all that the united states are standing for."

Tony, on the verge of passing out, managed a smile on his lips. He looked towards Gibbs and saw confidence in him, in his abilities and he decided that this trust his boss gave him was not in vain.

With all the strength he had left, he threw himself backwards to topple Ziva out of her position and took her down onto the floor with him. They both crashed into the ground and he would've screamed in pain had he got enough air for that as he fully landed on his already broken arm.

This element of surprise was all Gibbs needed and he surged forwards and stepped on Zivas hand which was still holding the cloth she strangled Tony with.

"Ahhhh." she screamed and let go. Looking up, she was gazing into a barrel of Gibbs faithful Sig.

"Go ahead, shoot me." she whispered, not wanting to live with the shame of having lost.

Instead, Gibbs left her to tend once more to Tony and Eli took his position.

"You have bought shame on our name, Ziva. I should kill you right here." he said with a low voice. Vance just cocked his eyebrow.

"But then I believe that sitting out your punishment in an American facility is more fitting for you. You have no right to die an honorary death as a Mossad agent anymore. Cuff her and take her away!" he commanded and his men grabbed Ziva and carried her away.

"You can't do that! Noooooooo!" They heard her screaming all the way.

#####################################################################################

"Tony! Tony, are you okay?" Gibbs asked, sitting right next to his agent who was still lying on the floor.

"I thought I had to die." he finally said after a few minutes of silence.

"Firstly the confrontation with her, then the truck, the needle and the walk to the..." he couldn't continue, turning to his side he retched onto the floor, not bringing anything up as his stomach was empty.

Gibbs helplessly rubbed his back to try to give a little bit of comfort to his agent. No, his son. Not in blood and he would never call him that but in his heart, he knew that the young man had earned this spot in his life. He just needed today to realize it. He also saw now that he always took him for granted and today he had come very close to losing him forever at the hands of a woman they both had trusted to some extent.

"I wonder how Abby will react to this? She's gonna hate me." Dinozzo winced at the thought.

He tapped him onto his neck.

"If Abby is angry with you, she won't get any more Caf-Pows from me." Gibbs said with a mock-glare.

Tony smiled. He was still under shock and any minute he would just lose consciousness but Gibbs was there for him and that was more than he ever had before in his life. It just had to turn shitty again for them to see what they had.

######################################################################################

Vance had been gone in the meantime, calling an ambulance and informing NCIS about their situation. Eli David handled the Israeli parliament and police officers who didn't react kindly to having lost their prisoner. Later they found out that Yisim Hadad was still in his holding cell and a few guards were bribed to keep this quiet. Also, his execution was called off. The government decided that it seemed that their country just didn't have the right structure to proceed with this kind of thing so it would be better if there were no more death penalties issued.

Tony spend one day in the hospital getting fluids and nutrition before Gibbs released him to get him on a plane as fast as possible to bring him back to the states.

They didn't really talk about what happened as there were both not exactly forthcoming when it came to trauma and the influence it had on their lives but Tony couldn't just continue like he had the day before everything well awry.

"Boss..." he began. Gibbs looked over to him, he was sitting in the same row as Dinozzo, having left one seat between them free so that Tony would have more space for his broken arm. It was re-stabilized in the hospital but Ducky would throw a fit if he saw the additional damage. His throat was still sore from being nearly strangled and Brad Pitt would have to have a look at his lungs when he got back too. Hopefully there wasn't any lasting damage to his already scarred lung tissue. He could loose his field-agent position over that.

"What is it, Tony?" he asked.

"I cannot continue like before." he stated, letting Gibbs nearly have a heart attack.

"What do you mean by this?" he demanded to know, anger getting the best of him.

Tony sighed, this was exactly what he meant.

"Like this boss. I am your senior field agent and it's high time that the probie and every other new agent that might join our team knows that. I let McGee and Kate and even..." he gulped, saying her name was something he wasn't prepared to do right now.

Gibbs nodded. "Go on." he encouraged.

"Anyway, I let them get away with a lot because I thought that we are some kind of family and in families you are sometimes mean to the others, you tease them and they retort but we are also a federal agency with a very important task and maybe there is no place for goodhearted jokes to lighten the mood. At least it never had, you only get angry or annoyed and the probie take it personally and thinks I want to insult him. So he insults me too. I guess I just reaped what I sow." he slowly shook his head.

Gibbs was silent for a minute. He was often silent but now he had to say something to this. Tony was a strong man but every time he got into a life-changing situation he doubted himself as a person, an agent, a friend.

"How's that Tony? You will decide with me the next agent for our team and he will be personally trained by now and we will re-etablish the chain of command again when we're back in DC. McGee's getting too confident anyway, he could use some peggin' down."

Tony looked up at Gibbs and smiled. Not his overall grin because he truly wasn't in the mood to really laugh but it was a beginning to right several wrongs that happened in the past few years.

"Works for me, Agent Gibbs." he said, shaking hands with his mentor.

"By the way... using that sign language to inform us was brilliant. Since when do you know how to sign?"

Tony just grinned, looking more like the old Dinozzo he knew.

"Since you and Abby decided that would be a good way to talk about me while being present."

"Only you Dinozzo... only you." Gibbs signed but his eyes were twinkling and was just happy to still have this man by his side. Everything else would have to find itself and maybe some things would inevitably change but they would live through that.

 _Well folks, that's it.  
I didn't write that much about the aftermath because I didn't seem that important but I had to address a little bit of the problems that got them into the situation first hand. And once more, I do not hate Ziva nor do I think this is an AU. She is a dangerous person if she wants to be and I didn't see love or even friendship in this time of the series between her and Tony and she really took Rivkin getting killed very hard. And I did send her over the edge as she accepted that suicide-mission from her father in the original series as she felt not wanted enough or because she could not stand Tony at all. She threw him to the ground and said, that it would've been better had Tony been killed by Rivkin and not the other way aroung. So I just spun this possibility and her grief into some batshit-crazy action of hers. Personally I really don't think that Ziva i a very psycological health individual but they all have their burdens to carry. _


End file.
